The University Archives Photograph Collection, B. W. Wells Lantern Slides, 1920-1953, is comprised of glass lantern slides created by B. W. Wells with a 4 x 5-inch Graflex single-lens reflex camera for use in his research, instruction, and public presentations. The slides measure 3.25 inches by 4 inches. There are 551 slides, ... More

The University Archives Photograph Collection, B. W. Wells Lantern Slides, 1920-1953, is comprised of glass lantern slides created by B. W. Wells with a 4 x 5-inch Graflex single-lens reflex camera for use in his research, instruction, and public presentations. The slides measure 3.25 inches by 4 inches. There are 551 slides, including 57 duplicates. Most of the slides are black-and-white, but 132 of them are color, hand-tinted by Wells himself. The slides show landscapes and plants from various regions of North Carolina, as well as maps, graphs, and diagrams that Wells reproduced from publications to illustrate points he made in his lectures and writings. At least 41 of the slides show landscapes in other parts of North America. Upon Wells' retirement in 1954, he left the slides in the Department of Botany, where they were housed in a wooden cabinet and used by the faculty and students. The slides were stored this way until they were transferred to the University Archives in 2005-2006. B. W. (Bertram Whittier) Wells (1884-1978) is most widely known for his study and preservation of North Carolina's natural environment. Wells headed North Carolina State College's Botany and Plant Pathology Department (later the Department of Plant Biology of North Carolina State University) from 1919 to 1949 and remained on the faculty until 1954. An early ecologist, Wells wrote on many topics: the insect galls of plants, the effects of salt on coastal vegetation, the origins of grassy balds in the Appalachian mountains, the plant communities of the Big Savannah of Pender County, North Carolina, and the possible formation by meteorites of the Carolina Bays in the eastern part of the state. However, Wells' most extensive work focused on savanna and pocosin vegetation. Wells traveled around North Carolina studying plants in their native environments. His work reached a wider audience through public lectures and the 1932 publication of his book, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina, reprinted in 1967 and 2002. Wells continued his advocacy and educational work during his retirement, and his legacy lives on in the B.W. Wells Association, formed after his death in December 1978. Less